What happens when you take perhaps the best Jeep engine of all time, the AMC 4-liter, and plop it under perhaps the sexiest Jeep body of all time, the FC pickup? Answer: borderline perfection.
The Jeep FC 150 Heritage concept is a stock 1960 FC-150 body sitting atop a 2005 Jeep Wrangler TJ frame—a true recipe for success. It was unveiled today ahead of the upcoming Moab festivities, in which I’ll be taking part. (Hopefully.)
The Jeep FC 150 Heritage has the venerable 4-liter and three-speed auto from a TJ (the 2005 TJ came with a four-speed, so this is probably a trans out of an earlier TJ), but to give the classic FC a bit more off-road cred, Jeep added 33-inch BFG Mud-Terrain T/A KM2s, a Dana 44 axle up front, a Dana 60 in the back and a Rubicon 4:1 transfer case in between.
Yes, please.
Mark Allen, head of Jeep design, said Jeep tried building the FC 150, which they found online for sale in Colorado, on the modern JK Wrangler frame, but the rails were simply too wide. So Mark made a call, and someone at Jeep was able to dig up a 2005 Jeep Wrangler in storage — a Wrangler with only about 30 miles on the odometer.
Thirty. Miles!
Here’s a look at the interior. Fairly spartan, and extremely difficult to hop into.
In the back, Jeep had to add a 250-pound iron counterweight to keep the FC properly balanced with all that weight in the nose.
I need one.